A Texas superintendent ordered books on sexuality and gender identity to be removed from school libraries, a report published last Wednesday has revealed.
Jeremy Glenn, the superintendent of the Granbury Independent School District in North Texas, reportedly told a group of librarians that books about sexuality and transgender people should be removed from school libraries.
He was concerned about the effect that this would have on young children, believing that such books would “expose young students to inappropriate ideas and language”.
He followed this up by claiming that “There are two genders. There is a man and there is a woman. And I recognise that there are men who think they are women. And there are women who think they are men. […] There’s no room for it in our libraries”.
This follows on from an ongoing discussion in Texas about what books should be available in schools.
A few months previously, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott wrote a letter to the state school board demanding that “pornographic” books be removed from school libraries.
However, it is not only books surrounding sexuality and gender identity that are being removed – the idea of any ‘diverse’ books residing in Texas libraries seems to be shunned.
For example, Texas Rep. Matt Krause doubted the inclusion of 850 books that mention race and sexuality in public libraries, saying that these topics might make readers uncomfortable.
Parents in Texas seem to be on board with such decisions.
One parent asked administrators at a school in Houston to remove Drama by Raina Telgemeier as it features gay and bisexual characters because it might cause students to “question their sexual orientation when they don’t even comprehend what that means”.
On the other hand, such decisions have received backlash here in the UK.
Amie Jones, founding member of the UK’s first children’s book club with a focus on nurturing social consciousness, Kind Kids Book Club, has expressed her worry about the effect this may have on children.
She said: “To take books off the shelved that contain LGBTQ+ characters and lives is extremely damaging, especially for young people on the brink of becoming who they are meant to be. […] What could be more painful, confusing, and distressing – for LGBTQ+ young people and their peers – than that?”.
Words by Sarah Garner
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